Black women are used to being invisible. And yet, we continue to forge ahead in many sectors of industry across the country, despite being ignored and left behind by funders. One such industry is technology—which is missing a huge opportunity to capitalize on investing in black women. Black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the country. According to the the 2011 U.S. Census Bureau, we are also the most educated people in the country, the highest percentage of any group enrolled in college and part of the largest and most engaged group of early tech adopters. All of this should make us an easy sell to venture capitalists looking to invest in startups run by black women. But investors simply don’t seem to be interested.
The fact that black women are educated and entrepreneurial yet so underfunded is a confluence of broadening thoughts of diversity, use of technology, and economic policy. The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 increased limits for tax write-offs for startups, such as the ability to deduct cell phone bills and depreciation, and health care costs. This was great news for black women, who tend to be younger when they found their companies, have more debt, and less access to capital. Black women have greater difficulty receiving funding from investors and creditors, and difficulty securing lending due to racial bias.
But tax write-offs don’t make up for the funding gap. When black women are funded, they get the short end of the stick, with the average raise round totaling just $36,000. Compare that figure to the composite of the average white male startup founder, who banks an average of $1.3 million in funding.
As usual, so much of this is about race and gender. White men are understood as the default experts for literally everything (there was even a recent political philosophy journal that published an issue about Black Lives Matter without a single black person’s perspective) so it’s hard for women, and especially black women, to be seen as credible in any field and, particularly, technology. Which is really so unfortunate because this lack of investment in diversity also means a lack of innovation and fresh ideas. And much of this comes down to networks. If a black woman doesn’t have access to networks to fund her idea, it doesn’t matter how great the idea is.
from Daily Kos http://ift.tt/2rCkC7N
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